Gundlach Bundschu Winery is an institution. It’s been around forever! About 35 miles from San Francisco the winery sits at the southern end of the Sonoma Valley.

Referred to by many as “GunBun”, it is one of the oldest wineries in the state. It’s also one of the most diverse for visitors, offering venue experiences unlike any other winery I know – from cave tastings, to off-roading, virtual tastings, stand up/ bar tastings, live music, concerts, picnics, and so much more.

The winery’s property is called Rhinefarm and encompasses 320 acres of farmed vineyards and fun!

We were most recently there around Halloween and enjoyed a morning tasting in their winery courtyard. We had a perfect location, on a perfect fall day, overlooking the pond.

We were trying their Heritage Flight tasting and accompanied it with their offering of bread and olive oil. It’s good to note that they have an ample selection of tasty items you can purchase to have with your tasting.

The 2021 Russian River Sauvignon Blanc was wonderful. A good start to an entire line up of great wines.

We deviated from the tasting line up a bit to try a few of their unusual wines. We particularly liked the La Cuadrilla (The Crew) Blend which is predominantly composed of Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and is so named because it is a result of a collaboration by all members of their winemaking team. We left with several bottles.

Gundlach Bundschu leaves nothing out on the retail end either. They have one of the best winery gift shops with unique items that are truly hard to resist.

Honestly, the tasting was one of the best. We wished we had not booked another tasting we had to get on to as we hated to leave.

Salud!

note – We visited Gundlach Bundschu for the first time in 1989 when the only tasting experience was at the small bar in what is today’s tasting room/winery gift shop. I will never forget……when you left the winery, along the driveway there was a sign – “Beware of the real world beyond these gates”. It was hilarious back then. Today it would sadly be the truth.